S/V or is S/Y the correct term?

[BigEmUp]

Just wondering - or are they both just as good?

 

[Ceirwan]

I hear S/V a lot on American forums. I never hear them used at all the UK. To most in the UK a yacht is a sailing boat. In America they call them Sailboats.

 

[prv]

I don't use either.

The nearest I get is that if I'm calling someone on VHF who's not a "leisure" station like a marina, I will say "this is yacht <name>" so they know what they're dealing with.

Pete

 

[Cardo]

S/Y = Sailing Yacht. Common around the UK.
S/V = Small Vessel. Common around the US.

Pick whichever, if you wish!

 

[ganter]

Taki - The writer/ Playboy/ Bon Boulevardier/ General All-Round Cad; says S/Y in his postings from aboard.

That's good enough for me.

 

[Keen_Ed]

Never heard of either being used here.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I would always assume SY to be a Steam Yacht.

 

[rotrax]

S/Y = Sailing Yacht. Common around the UK.
S/V = Small Vessel. Common around the US.

Pick whichever, if you wish!

My Septic sailing aquaintances tell me SV is Sailing Vessel.

That is what we call Jess anyway.

 

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

I would always assume SY to be a Steam Yacht.

Me too.

.... SV is Sailing Vessel.

That's what we use here too. (Unless it's M/V for a motor vessel, one or two of which we also get to list occasionally. We've never listed an SS yet, but I guess there aren't too many wooden steam ships left these days...)

Mike

 

[Lakesailor]

SY is definitely for Steam Yachts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SY_Gondola

And some of the collection at the Windermere Steam Boats Museum

SL Osprey 1902 Steam Launch
SL Dolly 1850 Steam Launch
TSSY Esperance 1869 Steam Yacht (Twin Screw Steam Yacht)
SS Raven 1871 Steam Ship
SL Branksome 1896 Steam Launch
SL Kittiwake 1898 Steam Launch
SL Otto 1896 Steam Launch
SL Swallow 1911 Steam Launch
SL Lady Elizabeth c.1900 Steam Launch

 

[Jurgen]

Unless it's M/V for a motor vessel,

Isn't MV Merchant Vessel ?

 

[Cardo]

I would always assume SY to be a Steam Yacht.

My Septic sailing aquaintances tell me SV is Sailing Vessel.

That is what we call Jess anyway.

Unless it's M/V for a motor vessel,

Isn't MV Merchant Vessel ?

Just shows, nobody can decide what it means!
A quick search does suggest S/V is more commonly a sailing vessel, though I'm pretty certain in my previous research I found it could also be used for small motorboats, thus small vessel.

 

[Oldhairy]

Isn't MV Merchant Vessel ?

Merchant vessels actually use the standard designations ; M/S motor ship, S/S steam ship, M/T motor tanker etc.
AFAIK sailing vessels are designated by the rig; Sloop, Ketch etc where Ship is a fully square rigger with at least four masts

 

[MrB]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_prefix


Prefix list here ^^^^^

 

[SailorBill]

Just wondering - or are they both just as good?

As good as what?

 

[BigEmUp]

As good as what?

..as an abbreviation. Used in official forms MMSI and AIS identifiers etc.

 

[prv]

Ship is a fully square rigger with at least four masts

A ship usually has three masts, square rigged on all of them. I suppose a vessel with four or more masts, all square-rigged, would also be a ship, but such a rig was not common; usually the fourth mast would be fore-and-aft rigged producing a four-masted barque. This rig was common to the point of being the norm, in the closing days of ocean-going commercial sail.

Pete

 

[Keen_Ed]

Is there a mnenomic for remembering the difference between brig, brigantine, barque and barquentine? Brig I can remember - square on fore and main, with a gaff spanker. I suppose a barque is square fore, gaff with topsails main. But between brigantine and barquentine, I always get confused.

 

[prv]

Is there a mnenomic for remembering the difference between brig, brigantine, barque and barquentine? Brig I can remember - square on fore and main, with a gaff spanker. I suppose a barque is square fore, gaff with topsails main. But between brigantine and barquentine, I always get confused.

From memory, I don't think you're right about the barque. I understand a barque to have at least two square-rigged masts, plus a single fore-and-aft-rigged mast at the stern. So at least three masts total, often four, and a tiny handful were built with five. The four-masted barque was a common rig for the large iron "windjammers" at the close of commercial sail in the late 19th and early 20th century.

I understand the "-ntine" suffix to mean a vessel that is "more fore-and-aft-rigged" than the base name would imply. So a barquentine, instead of having mostly square-rigged masts and one fore-and-aft, has mostly fore-and-aft and one square. The square-rigged mast is almost invariably the foremast, although the modern-day TS Pelican has an unusual rig with a square mainmast and fore-and-aft fore and mizzen; she goes by the name of "polacca barquentine" to indicate the unusual ordering. A brigantine, again, is like a brig but "more fore-and-aft rigged", so a square-rigged foremast and fore-and-aft main. This is often seen on smallish vessels that sit on the boundary between a large yacht and a small ship (not in the rigging sense), which perhaps would be more practical as a schooner or ketch, but want either the looks or the experience (for trainees) of square rig.

Pete